Recognizing tension

I noted in my comments yesterday that I was fighting yet another migraine. And it was one of these new types that I never seem to be able to stop, except with drugs. I called my trainer, because he's the one that's helped make them stop (and I know he's not a doctor, but I seem to be taking after my father who only asked his dentist for medical advice). He said to apply heat, which I did, which helped a little. And then I had my therapy appointment at 3:00. I went there all weirded in the back/neck/head, and we were going to do relaxation exercises for half the time, but I said I just wanted to talk for a while.

So I talked about my little and big things that were worrying me/making me feel depressed, and she helped me also talk about the good things in my life and assure me that this IS a big time of change for me. And lo and behold I felt better. No more feelings like I was going to have a migraine. I've had so much help and things are going so relatively well for me that I felt I could not complain, so I held it all in. And created tension.

See, there are so many ways the body can hold tension. The most obvious ones affect the big muscles, like when your shoulders are up to your ears. Stop and think - and bring them down. Or, purposely tense some muscles and let it go, and you'll see if they were tense before you did that.

But there's tension that's not so obvious. One thing I do is jut my lips out a little - it's not pursing, it's kinda like the very very early stage of kissing someone. Aw, how sweet you might say. But keep it in that position for a long time, and the tension gets into your jaw, face, head, neck. So, periodically I have to touch base with my face and see what's happening. Or even a very tiny bit of furrowed brow can do the same thing. Also, breaths become more and more shallow. Stop and take a deep breath or two.

Think about your body periodically throughout the day. Is it holding tension? Well, let it go.